SteVe's "Character Sketch"
A "character sketch" of an earlier version of my Steel Vengeance personification, though without any reference to the fact that he's a roller coaster personification.
Author's Notes
NOTE: This was originally written for my “Intro. To Creative Writing” class back in February 2019. We were directed to “Write a character sketch by describing the contents of your character’s garbage can”. For this assignment, I decided to use SteVe for it bcs why not, he’s pretty neat lol. However, I removed all explicit references to him being a roller coaster personification bcs I didn’t want to put in that much effort for what was a simple homework assignment(and I was still shy about telling most people about what is quite a niche fandom/concept). Additionally, it makes reference to SteVe’s original (humanoid) age of 35. Stephen = SteVe, Mason = Maverick, and Rattlesnake = Iron Rattler. The story also makes references to SV’s canon story, with Mason owning a mining company, Mason making Stephen’s life a living hell, Stephen teaming up with someone to help expose Mason, and the wanted posters being posted by Mason.
Content Warning: Mention of Blood, Implied Violence, Implied Alcoholism.
Character: A 35-yr. old male named Stephen, better known as his moniker “Vengeance”. A jaded vigilante-type from the old west.
Peering down into the near-overflowing garbage can, you make mental notes of what you found inside. There are many bones in there; mostly from various wings and ribs. Bottles of empty beer from a group in the center of the can. If you had seen his garbage two years ago, there would’ve been more bottles than bones. A used cigar sits towards the left side of the trash. Morbidly, there’s some blood-stained cloth near the bottom. Was it used to clean or to hide evidence? Crumpled paper balls sit on the top of this “collection”; you decide to open them up. The first one is, of course, a wanted poster. Abundant through the town, they were put up by Mason, the owner of the town’s most profitable business, a mining company. The next few paper balls are messages between Stephen and someone named “Rattlesnake”, mostly about plans to take Mason down from his “pedestal”. The final piece of paper is the most interesting. It was written by Stephen, but the contents of the letter are about himself, seemingly. Some of the words are blurred by beer or sauce stains, but you can make out some things. “For once, people paid attention to me. No longer am I the cranky “old guy” treated like a joke among the town. I was this close to….he made my life hell…..wanted it to stop…..if lighting can’t strike the same place twice then I needed to reinvent my image...a beacon of justice….truly I am “back with a vengeance”. Finally, peering out from the very bottom is an old yellow flannel shirt. It used to be part of his “signature look” but now it seems like he had disowned it. Hearing footsteps, you scramble out the window of his house, never looking back.